Question

Differentiate between bacteria and cyanobacteria?

Answer 1

Hint: Cyanobacteria is also known as blue-green algae. They differ from other bacteria as cyanobacteria contain chlorophyll-a, while most bacteria do not contain chlorophyll. Chlorophyll-a is a pigment that gives them their characteristic blue-green color.

Complete answer:
Cyanobacteria- they are also known as Cyanophyta. They are a phylum consisting of both free-living photosynthetic bacteria and endosymbiotic plastids which are seen in the Archaeplastida autotrophic eukaryotes. The plastids exist as a sister group to the free-living Gloeomargarita.

Bacteria- They are a type of biological cell. They comprise a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. They are a few micrometers in length and have a number of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals. They were among the first life forms to appear on Earth, and are present in most of its habitats.

No	Character	Bacteria	Cyanobacteria
1	Size	Comparatively smaller	Comparatively larger
2	Flagella	May bear Flagella	Flagella always absent
3	Nutrition	Maybe autotrophic or heterotrophic.	Usually autotrophic
4	Photosynthetic Pigments	Photosynthetic Pigments are bacteriochlorophyll	Photosynthetic Pigments is chlorophyll a
5	Accessory pigments	Absent	Accessory pigments like phycocyanin and phycoerythrin are present in dominating form.
6	Reserve food	Glycogen	Cyanophycean starch
7	Hydrogen donor	During photosynthesis hydrogen donor is not water; as a result, oxygen is not evolved. Thus photosynthesis is anoxygenic.	The hydrogen donor is water, oxygen is evolved. The process is oxygenic.
8	Spore formation	Spore formation is endogenous	Spore formation is not endogenous

Note: Cyanobacteria are occasionally considered algae, but they are actually bacteria. And the term "algae" is now reserved for eukaryotic organisms. They usually derive their energy through photosynthesis. They lack a nucleus or membrane-bound organelles, like chloroplasts.